Railroad tie or sleeper.



W. L. SYKES.

RAILROAD TIB 0R SLEBPBR.

Arruognox Hum 11.411` 1a. 1910.

Patented F9128, 1911.

3 SHEBTS-SHEET 2.

1m n: banaan-:1an u t v Paieuted Feb. 28, 1911. v

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. 2b all whom 'it may concern:

, appended cli aims.

of a still further modification. Fig. 7 isa am aware have provedsuccessful or have .cracks which will admit of moisture, thus is atransverse sectional View through a 'tie growing scarcity of timber 'and.the increasl Atie, thus shortening` its period of usefulness.Furthermore, considerable diilicultv has been The season cracks will bereduced iii number WILLIAM L. sYiiEs, or

Be it known that LWViLiiiAii Sruia's, citizen of the UnitedStates,'residing at Buffalo, New York, have .inventedcertain new anduseful Iniproi-'einents -in Railroad My invention relates toimprdifements in railroad ties orsleepers and comprises the' novelfeatures of construction and arrangement and combination of parts`hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the In. theaccompanying drawings: Figure 1 orsleeper constructed in a'ccordancewith my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Figs. 2* and Q are detailviews of modifications. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of a modifiedform. Fig. 4 Ais a similar view of a.' still further modification. Fig.'5 is a' view cfa still further modification. Fig. G'is a view sideelevation of the same, and Fig. 8. is a View of a modification of Fig..6.

rIt' is well `known that the problem of securing timber for railwaysleepers'or. ties'is becoming a very serious one owing to the ing cost.This has led to many attempts to provide substitutes for wood ties,either in the shape of concrete or composition ties, or metallic ties,but none of these, so-ar as I been adopted to any extent by therailroads.

The average size oftie used is approximately x9 in cross sectionl andhence requires for its product-ion a log to be at least 11" in diameter,and hence, of considerable initial value. Such ties are at present moreor less treated by wood preservatives, but before they can be properlytreated it is necessary that they be thoroughly seasoned, and in theseasoning of a tie from a single stiel; of timber they, of necessity,develop large causing decay and otherwise weakening the experienced togetthe preservation material to thoroughly penetratesfa' tie of thissize.

and size by using pieces ofsmaller dimensions, and such smaller piecespossess the further advantage that -they can be more unirsi) s'riirnsParenti oiarion.

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Specification of Letters Patent. -Patented E91), 28, 1' 911, l'ppiiean'an sied March is, l

l ieio. seriai im. 550,250.

ther, can be made from parts of trees and smaller trees than will mal-tea standard tie of one piece. A-

I have aimed to produce a tic of such a construction that. it can hemadt` o' such smaller pieces with the attendant advantages above setforth and which will lyet be'as strong and more durable than the tiemade in the ordinary manner of a single solid piece of wood. In otherwords, I have aimed `all the demands of the railway, may be constructedto the bestadvantage from the standpoint of the lumbcrman and forester,with a view to making the most economical use of the smaller sizes oflumber, and thereby producing the maximum number of ties with av minimumamount of Waste from given number of-trees. l

lu the preferred form of in v inventipn. villustrated iiiF 1 and Q, Iform the tie of 'a main central section A. and two side sections IS andC. and preferably with a base member or section I). YVhile I do notrestrict myself to size or dimensions, I will describe this tie as oi asize which I regard as preferable. and' in giving the dimensions.cairthe more readily explain some of the salient features. The centraloi main meinwidtli b v about six .inches` in height and the two sidepieces B and C are of the same height and aboit one-and-a-half inchesthick at the top and about twoand-a-half inches at'the bottom. It will'thus be seen that stick or piece ot the size of the piece A, by simplysawing through the center of such piece on a slightly inclined ordiagonal line and tl' en by inverting one-half and placing the tr'o onopposite sides of the piece A, a combined article is produced haring anupper sarfaceseven inches in width and' a base nine inches in width.-This gives an upper cent qioition of requisite size and strength andsoliditv to receive. the spikes or screws. and provides a broader baseto afford ample bearing upon the road bed. .The thicliiiess of the sidepieces orinembers B and Cjs such that they may be readily fastened tothe central member or section by nails o'f .suitable size. which form acheap'ifastening means but at the same time one .of great strength anddurability. The'miing may effectively treated by preservatives, and furlbe cheaplv and rapidly dong-either. by hand to produce a. tie which,while meetingl with'V anyA these two pieces may be made from a singleber is preferably about four inches in' suvf'acut ample width to supportthe rail, a

fg i j v' 985,410'

or a nail driving machine. I have 'ound by practice that fastening bymeans of snitablcnails. properly lspaced, is pr:\t"erable to usingbolts, as bolts must, of i'ieeessity. be placed a greater distanceapart, and must have holes bored for their reception, are costly. andbecause of their distance apart attord opportunity tor a slight movementof the. parts withrelation to each other under weight of the henryrollin'; r stock now used. and vibration thereof. lieces ot' the sizethus described, in addition to being easily and cheaply securedtogether.v4 possess the further advantage of being more readily seasonedwith less attendant cracks and more thoroughly treated by thepreservative processes, as this may be done betere they are securedtogether. I prefer to provide be- -neath the three assembled piecesabove described. the base I). hcreinbet'ore referred to. Thisispl'etierably composed ot' a pluralityoit' strips or pieces of hoard ofpromis-f en'onswidth placed edge to edge with the g ain running;erosswise or at right angles to the grain of parts A., B. and C. Such strips or pieces, in a tie of the dimensions giron above, would beapproximately one inch in thickness. The base D I secure to the piecesA. B and C. by a sutlicient number ot nails of suitable size. in thesame manner as I se-A cure the side pieces B and C to the central orintermediate pieces. If desired. the lower corners or edges of the basemay be beveled or inclined. as indicated at d, to facilitate tamping.The vertical lines of junction er contact o and c, between the centraland side members, and all other joints. will in prac t-ice. be found tohave little'detrimental etfect upon the tie, as they will not admit anappreciable amountof moisture, nothing in fact compared with thatadmit-ted by the season cracks of the ordinary standard solid. -woodtie. and further, it any moisture should enter these joints. it wouldnot, as in the case ot the one piece season cracked tie. reach a part ofthe wood which has not been .snbected to the action of the preservative.In case it is desired, thel upper surface or top of the tie may becovered by a cap plate E made of metal, rolled or pressed, with -theflanges e, embracing the sides of the tie at the upper corners, andprovided with holes for the passage of the vfastening devices. Such aplate serves to edectually cover and protect the-upper faceof the tie.would prevent spreading and also affords a-,crood bea ring seat. orchair for the rails. Itis, not necessary for the central member or pieceto be made of a' single homogeneous stick of timber. as it may, ifdesiredl` be composed of two pieces. as the overlappingof the. sidepieces B and C 'will afford the necessary strength. thus producingstandard length ties from promiscuous lengths of lumber,

With minimum amount of waste. These pingl as shown in Fig. 2b, thespliced parts being connected by nails as -shown. It will be obviousthat instead of making the central member of -piec A of two parts, itcould he mad of one piece and the side pieces o r members madc'each oftwo parts, similarly spliced, but in no case should a spliced joint be.located 'within eighteen inches ot the rails. I

ln the form shown in Fig. 3, I have shown a larger central portion A3,five inches by six inches in' cross section, and two side pieces B3 andC 3, cut from a stick of about threc-a11d-onehalt by six inches crosssectional area, but on an incline which, when theparts are placedtogether in the posi- 'tion shown 'and secured in the manner describedin connection with the preferred form, producesa tiehaving an uppersurface seven inches in width and a ten inch base, thus making a; tiewith an ample upper surface and a broad base, affording large surfacearea vupon the road bed, with a minimum amount of material, andconstructed from comparatively small pieces. In this form also Ihaveshown a base with the grain running at right; angles to the grain ofthe superimposed pieces, which may be made wither Without beveled edges,as in Fig. 2.

In the .form shown in F i g. 4, the construction as provided is built nof still smaller pieces, by retaining the underlying princi ple of theforegoing forms. In this the.central piece may be made of a four by four.inch stick, and theside pieces of a piece of the same size, cut on adiagonal line which will give two pieces, each having a thickness ofabout one-and-one-half inch on one edge, and about twoand-one-halfinches onthe other. These are placed on the opposite Asides of thecenter piece and secured in the same manner already described, and'rovided preferably with the bottom section D* In this form I may,ifdesired, provide above the pieces A4, B4, and C,'the covering nicmb'er F4 which may consist, like the bottom section Dt, of a plurality ofstrips arranged with the grain running crosswise of the tie and securedby nailing, in the manner already described. A Above this is placed asin- ,cle piece G* extending the whole length of the tie,preferably-seven inches in width and one-and-onc-half inches inthickness which could be of hard and selected wood for this purpose; orthe coveringr member F* can be eliminated from this tie and the piece G*nailed direct to the pieces A, B* and C. If i strips Flwould be one-halfinch thick, but

if the coveriinT member l"4 is eliminated or iicd, as shown bv Fin'. Sin havinff the de ith a v b 1 not used, then the strips G* can betwoinches thick, .,1 the pieces A4, B", and C4, four-andone-half inches`thick. `This provides a tie with a nine inch base and a seven inch uppersurface, and a height, ot seven inches, composed of pieces which arecntwith a view of 'economy from thc. luiuberinans standpoint,

and united in a manner to vproduce a strong durable tie free fromliability of decay. This form leavesl no exposed lines of division forthe admission ot' moisture from the upper surface. The vbasemcniber D4can have its edges beveled, as shown in Fig. 3, if desired.

In the form showin in Iiig. 5, I still preserve, though to aless degree,the idea of using pieces cut .with economy from the lumbermansstandpoint, butwith a View to Vusingtimber of comlimratively small sizeIn this construction I use two pieces, H and H',each aboutfour-and-one-hal' inches in width by six inches' in height, connected bynailing at frequent intervals. In this torni it may be desirable to useseveral bolts ar ranged near the upper edge, as shown in Fig. 5, andprovided with a base piece similar Vto that described in connection withthe foregoing figures.

In Fig. 6, I preserve the saine general underlying principles ofconstruction as found jin the'other figures; viz., keeping the idea ofsingle small pieces, cut. with economy, thus conserving or saving timberfrom the luinbermans point of View, as will be seen by referring to itsconstruction. In

this construction I have used two main pieces, I and I', each about.tive-and-one -half inches wide by three inches thick, and

foul-'side pieces BB and C, B7 and C7, which are fastened to the mainsection I and I as hercinbefore provided. I use the section D, made upof pieces of boards or strips with `the grain running at right angles tothe main sectionI and I', as a binder between the two pieces I and I','with its attendant side pieces B, C, and Il?, C' base to base; allsecurely nailed together as hereinbei'ore f provided. Itwill thus beseen that I have a tie with a.. surface seven inches, a base seveninches, and a depth of seven inches, and having both edges beveled fromthe-center to the surface and to the. base, thus giving' a wedge shapedtie in the ballast and affording greater' and easier facility forltainping, the tie being about twelve inches Wide on the ballast. It'desired the boards or strips of,section I) could be spaced to pro- Videan opening extending transversely of the. tie in which could be inserteda nut for the-reception of a bolt where it. is desired to use a bolt asthc rail fastening' means. Otherwise a screw or spike might. be usedextending directly through the section D into the section below.

The vconstruction of F ig. 6 may be modiof the pieccs'I, B8 and C, allabout four niches instead of three inches, and the depth of I', B, C9,about two inches instead of three inches, thus being better adapted for'ing spikes, bolts or screws, can be made of hard wood, and the otherortions of softer wood. Itwill also'- be un erstood that the size andrelation of the-parts may be Varied so 'as not to bring the line ofdivision between the parts in such position at the point where the boltorother fastening de vice of any standard rail fastener would enter, andproyide a solid pieceor member at the 'point-.where such fastener wouldpenetrate the tie.v Y i Having thusdescribed my invention;wha't, Iclaimiszi l. A railroad tie or'sleeper comprising a'A plurality of sectionsof wood of substantial thickness arranged sigle by side' on edge andsuitably secured together, and a base also composed of woodwith thegrain arranged crosswise of said sections,wlnch base is suitably securedto. said sections, lsubstantially described.l e i E2. A railroad tie orsleeper comprising three sections of wood of substantial thickness` seton edge, and suitably secured together, and a base secured beneath saidsections, said base having the grain arranged at right angles to thegrain of said sections, substantially as described.

3.l A railroadtie or sleeper comprising a central section and two sidesections secured thereto, the side sections gradually increasing inthickness toward the base, substantially as described. f

4., A railroad tie or sleeper comprising a.

central section and two side sections suitably.

central section and two side sections suitably 1 secured together, and asuperimposed c0v- @ring piece ormember, substantially as described.

't'. A railroad tie or sleeper comprisin a central section and two sidesections suitably binder made up of boards with the grain 4 `v 7 985,470v l secured together,` nd a cvrng member fV means forsecuring the partstogether, sub- 10 'upon the upper face thereof, composed of l stantiallyas described.

strips or boards with the grain at right In testimony Whereolafx mySignatura angles to the grain of said sections, substanin presence oftwo witnesses. ia-HY as desmbed' WILLI'm L SYI'ES 8. A-railroad tio orsleeper comprising two central and four side sections, with a fitnessesn BENNETT S. Jomzs,

running Lt right angles to said sections, and I JAMES M. SPEAR.

Copies of this patent may be obtainedV for nve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

